[Another late one due to another busy Friday]
When I think of the word vivid, I think of how often I use that word to describe my nightmares. I'm often plagued with them for days at a time and sometimes they leave me too frightened to go back to sleep and too thankful that it was only a dream. I usually have three of the same nightmares that often repeat themselves. I either dream about Judgement Day, Demonic Possession or something evil in my home or room and finally being chased by some strange creature or the other that I only really manage to escape within inches of my life.

Most of the time, when I have these nightmares, I don't even realize I slipped into a dream. It's a smooth, frightening transition from reality into the dream world. It's like dozing off for a few seconds and then waking up but what you don't realize is that you woke up in a dream. It's usually dark all around me, and empty as if everyone had woken up and left to go somewhere or gathered out and away in a corner of the house. This is how the nightmare of a possession or evil entity usually starts.

There are signs and hints my brain gives me to let me know I'm not awake and this isn't real. Sometimes I try to say a prayer in my dreams to keep the demons away but something always goes wrong. I either forget what I'm trying to recite or my mouth gets filled with something that I can only describe as mushy, slimy oatmeal type of material. Another hint or sign is my lack of ability to cry out and call for help. In my nightmares, my voice is always hoarse and I'm almost always mute when it comes to crying out or screaming.

I've never woken up in tears or woken up screaming and I always thought that my inability to cry out in a dream is just my body's way of keeping me from doing it outside of the dream. I wake up afraid, my heart racing and close to tears and rather shocked that I was dreaming and most of the time thankful that it was just that, a dream. it usually takes me a few hours to allow myself to go back to sleep fearing that the nightmare might continue but most of the time it never does. I don't know where they come from or why, here in my culture there are different interpretations but I never bother to actually find out what they meant.